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NBER: Re: Fw: suicide and education
Subject: Re: Fw: suicide and education
From: Philip Cook (pcook@duke.edu)
Date: Tue Aug 05 2003 - 08:01:54 EDT
Mike and others:
Let me offer my 2 cents on the question of the "elite" nature of suicide.
In our recent book, Gun Violence: The Real Costs (Oxford, 2000), Jens
Ludwig and I tabulate some of the simple demographics of gun suicide (which
is to say, the large majority of all suicides) in the United States. We
used the Vital Statistics mortality data and the National Mortality
Followback Survey. In Appendix A, we report that for each of 3 age groups
(18-29, 30-54, 55+), the male suicide rate is much higher for unmarried
than married men, much higher for those who did not attend college than for
those who had at least some college, and much higher for those not employed
than those employed. The suicide rate for those with family income
exceeding $50K is a small fraction of the suicide rate for those with
family income less than $25K. The same patterns (at a lower level) obtain
for women. So in the United States, at least, suicide is not an "elite"
activity.
The patterns cited above are to some extent the result of the fact that
suicide is closely linked to mental illness and poor physical health, but I
doubt that that's the whole story. Higher income and education bring a
sense of (relative) well being.
Best wishes,
Phil Cook
--On Monday, August 04, 2003 7:18 PM -0400 Michael Grossman
<mgrossman@gc.cuny.edu> wrote:
>
> Michael Grossman
> National Bureau of Economic Research
> 365 Fifth Avenue, 5th Floor
> New York, New York 10016-4309
> 212-817-7959 (phone)
> 212-817-1597 (fax)
> mgrossman@gc.cuny.edu (e-mail)
> http://web.gc.cuny.edu/economics/faculty/grossman.htm (home page)
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Alec Gershberg" <gersh@newschool.edu>
> To: <mgrossman@gc.cuny.edu>
> Sent: Monday, August 04, 2003 4:27 PM
> Subject: suicide and education
>
>
>> mike, could you distribute this note to the health econ group from the
>> nber meetings in cambridge.
>>
>> colleagues from the nber health econ mtgs:
>>
>> during the discussion of markowitz's paper, i raised the issue that
>> perhaps suicide was an "elitist" activity. this comment drew a few
>> chuckles, and it was stated that suicide rates fell with rising
>> education.
>>
>> i had the opportunity to talk with one of the leading national
>> psychiatric experts on suicide. he in fact was very surprised at the
>> assertion about suicide rates falling as education rises.
>>
>> he said it has been well documented that suicide rates rise with
>> intelligence, creativity, risk taking, and especially being bi-polar
>> (which apparently increases with education level).
>>
>> he said one of the most cited studies is from england where they looked
>> at students from cambridge and oxford, students from 7 unnamed
>> university (a true ignominy!), and those who did not attend university.
>> suicide rates fell as the elite status of the education declined.
>> similar studies have been done in the u.s.
>>
>> anyway, i thought i would share this in the interest of knowledge, and
>> wonder what cut of what data shows suicide falling as education rises.
>> it seems that suicide is in fact an elitist activity after all.
>>
>> i enjoyed interacting with all of you.
>>
>> best,
>>
>> alec
>>
>>
>> Alec Ian Gershberg
>> Associate Professor
>> Robert J. Milano Graduate School
>> of Management & Urban Policy
>> New School University
>> 72 Fifth Avenue, 5th floor
>> New York, NY 10011
>>
>> Ph: (212) 229.5311 x 1412
>> Fax: (212) 229.5404
>>
>> gersh@newschool.edu
>> http://www.newschool.edu/milano/alec/Alec.htm
>
>
>
>
>
Please use my new email address: pcook@duke.edu
Philip J. Cook
ITT/Sanford Professor of Public Policy
Duke University, Box 90245
Durham, NC 27708
V: 919/613-7360
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